Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 partially animated Disney film based on Mary Norton’s children’s books “The Magic Bedknob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons” and “Bonefires and Broomsticks” from the 1940s. The film follows three children who are evacuated from London during WWII and placed into the care of Eglantine Price.
Miss Price, in hopes of aiding the British and putting an end to the war, takes witchcraft lessons through a correspondence school. Militant witchcraft throughout WWII was said to be fairly common among English witches. Price enchants a bed knob with a transportation spell, and the characters ride off on a flying bed to the animated island of Naboombu in search of the final spell for her course. Things get weirder and weirder— but you’ll have to watch the movie to see how it all plays out.
When they return home to England, Nazi’s invade Eglantine’s home and take her and the children prisoner in a museum. She uses her final spell, Substitutiary Locomotion, to animate the museum’s collection of armor and military uniforms to fight off the Nazis! Magic saves the day, the Nazis flee, and England is saved.
This is one of my favorite Disney movies. Its basically a weird fusion of The Sound of Music, the 1973 Robin Hood, and the Little Mermaid. Eglantine epitomizes British witches of her time, and illustrates the importance of the role of magic and witchcraft in fighting fascist regimes. You have to use everything at your disposal.
